State preparing Merritt safety fixes

Published 9:39 pm, Thursday, June 14, 2012

Cars travel north and south on the Merritt Parkway under the Guinea Road Bridge in Stamford, Conn. Special Dru Nadler

Cars travel north and south on the Merritt Parkway under the Guinea Road Bridge in Stamford, Conn. Special Dru Nadler

Photo: File Photo, ST

State preparing Merritt safety fixes

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STAMFORD -- A $64 million project to improve safety on the Merritt Parkway, resurface the road and restore eroding historic concrete bridges will keep to a minimum the number of trees to be cut down, state engineers told residents this week.

As engineers proceed with plans to install more-modern steel-reinforced guardrails along the road's median, some trees may have to be sacrificed to meet safety standards, said Michael Calabrese, an engineer and project manager for the work.

"While we recognize it is important to preserve the Merritt Parkway as a historic roadway, it is equally important to note it is part of the national highway system and is a major thoroughfare," he said.

Calabrese and other engineers for the project whose design is expected to be completed this summer, spoke to a small group of residents at an informational meeting Monday night at the Stamford Government Center.

Calabrese said plans call for installing concrete barriers on the highway only beneath bridges, helping to maintain the highway's rustic aura.

The project is part of a corridor improvement effort initiated in 1994 through the recommendations of the Merritt Parkway Working Group, which called for roadway improvements to reduce serious accidents that have increased in frequency of as daily traffic has increase.

According to counts, traffic on the Merritt Parkway has grown from 39,000 cars in 1980 to between 50,000 and 80,000 cars daily, Calabrese said.

The project will be put out for bids in January, and be completed in summer 2015, under the DOT's schedule.

Jill Smyth, executive director for the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, said work in Fairfield and Trumbull has sparked questions from the group about the removal of specimen trees along the parkway in the interest of safety.

The group considers efforts to clean and refurbish the one-of-a-kind decorative adornments on the highway's overpass bridges have been highly successful, Smyth said.

"We hope there will be ribbons on the trees which will be coming down so people will know what is happening," Smyth said.

Calabrese said the installation of more and stronger guardrails is directly related to preventing collisions with trees along the road, which have traditionally accounted for the most fatal accidents.

Assistant New Canaan Fire Chief Jack Hennessey said the installation of more guardrails as a buffer between roadside trees and drivers could prevent deaths and severe injuries.

Hennessey said firefighters respond to several accidents a month on the parkway, including some that involve vehicles striking trees or breaking through guardrails into the path of traffic in the other direction.

"Many times on the right side of the road, there is no guardrail and the cars end up in the woods," Hennessey said.